Video game developers are demiurges who create universes and vivid reality from the interlacing of mysterious scripts. But even divine beings need a workplace. In the end, the PlayStation would not be without WorkStation. Like the game, the author’s workplace reveals something about his values, aesthetics, interests, or fears.

The stereotypical image of the developer's table is well known and unchanged: the chaos of headphones and fast food boxes, battalions of plastic figures, and the luckiest have awards and diplomas hanging on the wall. But is this image fair? Laptops and tablets allowed creators to break away from their tables, turning any park bench or cafe table into a potential workplace. In our time friendly to nomads, do game makers still value a carefully crafted personal workspace? Do they need noise, or silence? Do they prefer to work alone, or in a company?

A group of game developers from around the world agreed to show us their jobs and tell us the conditions in which new worlds are being created today.

Brandon Chung (Brendon Chung)

Place: Culver City, USA
Games: Gravity Bone, 30 Flights of Loving, Quadrilateral Cowboy
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“Now I divide my working time between my home office and Glitch City , office space, which is jointly leased by a group of local indie developers. In the environment of the general office space there is a special creative energy, as well as the energy of the support network. We work, realizing that we are not coping with the burden we have taken alone. But if you want to know the secret of focused productivity, then this is the train. God, I love working on trains. You can shove me into this metal pipe any day of the week. ”

“I travel quite often, so I don’t really care about the work environment. One of the nice advantages in creating games — or at least those games that I like — is that they need a little extra space and equipment. If I have a place where I can put a laptop and put a mouse, then this is enough to fall into a state of concentrated work. ”

“If I draw, model or design levels, then the noise resembles a warm blanket. Any kind of music, people talking, a movie with Netflix on the periphery of consciousness - all this suits me. A nuclear bomb may explode next to me, and this (possibly) will not distract my attention. However, when I write a plot or do programming, the noise is unacceptable in any case. When I need to use words or language, I turn into a dandelion that takes off into the air from the slightest gust of wind. If any music sounds, then there should be no words in it. ”

Edmund McMillen (Edmund McMillen)

Place: Santa Cruz, USA
Games: Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac


“Today, the home office is perfect for me, because I need a part of the house in which non-working life would not distract me. A place where I could turn on the music to the fullest extent and communicate endlessly with the people I work with, and without interfering with my wife and child. In addition, it is important to have a space that I can share with them. My work is distancing from the family, so I always have an empty table at which Daniel can sew or play with the child. In many ways, my office is a converted living room, into which they put a closing door. ”

“When I just do design, I can work with a pencil and a laptop almost everywhere. But when I do animations or design levels, then such a scheme is perfect for me. We can say that at the current stage I spend 50% of my working time thinking about paper, and I draw the rest of the time at the table. ”

“When I write a story, I need silence, but the rest of the time for inspiration, I need music that roars at full volume. Usually during the day I talk with people working on Skype for about an hour, but most of the time I just need a place to put my stupid toys and be a geezer. ”

Brenda Romero (Brenda Romero)

Place: Galway, Ireland
Games: Wizardry, Ghost Recon, Train


“My office is designed to reflect my personality and combine with it what I create. Next to me there are important tactile items for me, including the table, or items of mechanical beauty, for example, a pair of old unique typewriters. ”

“For many years I worked at any free table or bought a standard“ start-up table ”in a chain store. This year we made the tables for the order. And they are just beautiful. If you are trying to create something special, then it seems to me that it is important to work in a place that is both special and well designed. For me, this even concerns the beauty of the city and the time zone in which I live. When I lived in California, I woke up with the feeling that it was already a long day. My time zone was after all, and when I woke up, the mailbox was already full of letters. But here I don’t feel the need to rush and don’t feel that I’m late from everyone. ”

“I can work in different places, provided that I have the main components: silence and comfort. I can not work in conditions with a large number of distractions, to which I am not yet accustomed. For example, I got used to working alongside my colleagues, so their conversations do not bother me, but working in a coffee shop would be too distracting to me. It is rare to find things as beautiful as complete silence, it is very rare. Most of all I like to work early in the morning, in silence, with a cup of espresso. ”

Adam Saltsman

Place: Grand Rapids, USA
Games: Canabalt, Overland


“My main workplace is a room on the first floor of our house in the Michigan suburb. It is more than a dressing room, but less than a bedroom. It has a great big window, which is just perfect. On one side of the window there is a robin's nest, on the other - an irga, on which cardinals and squirrels gather. The room itself is still in chaos, because we have settled quite recently - I have not even put up marker boards. ”

“I really miss my marker boards. From the point of view of the “mechanics”, the boards are not very different from the notebooks, but it seems to me that they are completely different. You need to stand next to the board, next to these fuzzy markers, you can erase the notes very quickly, the number of parts used is very limited ... Due to the different posture and limited resolution of the tools, the marker boards are ideal for planning with “large strokes”. This is the best way to cut back on the space of opportunities before you sit down and do some very time-consuming programming. Otherwise, any table would suit me. It is enough that the monitor is at the right height so that it does not harm the neck and back. ”

“Besides the fact that I need space for standing and creating grubby drawings, I no longer need any special conditions. As far as I understood from the fact that over the last year I moved a couple of times, worked in the bedroom of an apartment and in several cafes, in other countries and on long flights, then I have enough headphones and a laptop. It seems to me that this survival skill should be cultivated in oneself — the ability to work relatively well even in non-ideal places is very useful ... because no place can be perfect. ”

“Silence usually makes me uncomfortable, anxious, and willing to run away. I can’t listen to music with words when debugging or programming, it’s probably too distracting for me. I usually have a lot of podcasts on days of art, a lot of music on days of programming. However, I have not had "days of art" for a long time. I really lack work in the same space with people. Coworking with the Overland team, which we arrange several times a year - these are the perfect moments. But I am quite satisfied that you don’t have to communicate with toxic people and travel long distances. Perhaps we will create here sometime part-time space, where you can ride a bike. I think it will suit me. ”

Masaya Matsuura

Place: Tokyo, Japan
Games: PaRappa the Rapper, UmJammerLammy


“In fact, I have three jobs. The first is in the office with a PlayStation 4 and a turntable. On it, I do design games and office work. The second is shown in the picture; This is a lobby in a recording studio. The third is the recording studio in the studio. ”

“Since this space is needed for practice, it requires bright lighting and calm. I did not take a picture of this place, but it is full of different figures that allow me to be inspired. Next to him is a wardrobe full of passes for gaming events - GameCity, Dice, Bitsummit, GDC ... "

“I like to think on trips or on trips, but I have a weak concentration. I always lose interest, regardless of conditions or environment. I constantly get distracted by something - for example, I can turn a figure from another angle for some reason. I rarely go to the cafe. I don't like Starbucks coffee ... "

Heather Kelley

Location: Pittsburgh, USA
Games: Lapis, Superhypercube


“I travel a lot, so I need to think carefully about the equipment that I take with me, because it greatly influences the type of work done. For example, I can’t test a game if I don’t take testing equipment or VR with me. I can’t create builds myself if I don’t take a PC laptop with me. But my main job is just a Mac laptop screen. ”

“I usually prefer to work in a well-lit space, which, of course, is not terribly suitable for working with computers and especially with projectors. But visual contrast is a perfectly acceptable sacrifice for sunlight, which improves my mood. I prefer when the work environment is not cluttered ... it means that I just temporarily put all the trash in a drawer or cabinet so as not to see it. ”

“The following factors most affect me: hunger, temperature, fatigue, and other basic physical conditions. If I have an Internet connection and there is no body discomfort, I can fully immerse myself in what I am doing. My main problem now is the poor ergonomics of my dinner table, where I spend most of my time with my laptop. When I write this answer, my shoulders, arms and wrists ache. Therefore, it is important to move and change position. And, yes, and do not sit at the computer all the time. "

“If I work on something verbal, such as a plot, the voices in the background interfere with me. Therefore, I listen to a lot of classical jazz, not music with words. And I discovered that I work well in public places, where most people speak a language that I don’t know. At home, when the weather permits, I open the windows a little and enjoy 4'33 " put on repeat . "

Lucas Pope

Place: Tokyo, Japan
Games: Papers, Please, Return of the Obra Dinn


“In fact, I did not think about how the environment affects my creative process or productivity. I only know that the less I get distracted, the better. I am fairly easy to immerse myself in work and I need short breaks to take a break and recharge my batteries. It helps when the room has good solar lighting and enough space to walk and look at the walls if something goes wrong for me. ”

“Only recently I first tried working outside the office, in a coffee shop. I did work in which I could use my iPad instead of a computer or laptop, and everything worked out quite well. The noise and the movements contrasted well with my usual solitude and helped in working on my creative task. However, I don’t think it’s worth trying to write code or create graphics. Noise and movement may not interfere, but I really like the efficiency that is enhanced by two large monitors, a full keyboard, a trackball, a tablet, etc. ”

“Now I work alone and turn on quiet chip tunes or other non-diverting music. It is difficult to say what my ideal is - when I am absorbed in work, we are quite tolerant of everything. However, silence distracts me, so at least there should be a small soundtrack. In the slow stages of development, I like to communicate with colleagues, but in tense moments I immerse myself in my own little world. ”

Margaret Robertson (Margaret Robertson)

Place: New York, USA
Games: Tiny Games, Dots & Co.


“My work space is a continuation of my thinking space. If there is something bad in it, then there is something bad in my head too. If there is something good in the workspace, it penetrates my thinking. I am careless, so I need a lot of space, but at the same time I hate chaos, so I need items that can be folded into other items to tidy up a bit. In the design of the workspace, I like Eeyore. Nothing makes me happier than "A pot in which you can put other items."

“I have a lot of prototyping paper, a bunch of woven wires, cables and telephones, and a plant that smells like cookies. It is also important for me to be in downtown Manhattan. I hate working on games without other people. Years of working on real, active games made me get used to the fact that my audience is constantly in the same room with me, which happens infrequently when creating digital games. It seems to me incredibly important to leave the office and be surrounded by people who play our games, or similar games, or games that are very different from our games. And I like the fact that I am so close to art galleries, trendy studios, small kindergartens and sombre eateries. In my new project, the world around me is being actively used - I could hardly have found all these intersection points in a standard business park. ”

“I can't stand too much loneliness. Many years ago I refused to work on a doctoral thesis, and I think for the most part this was caused by absolute, inexorable loneliness. I like the fact that at work I can laugh a lot and get instant feedback about my ideas. Most of the work of a game designer is getting feedback, watching people play, asking questions, even when you know the answers will be sad for you. It’s just necessary, but it’s just half the process. The second half is the removal and reflection of all this. Therefore, the scheme of my work is as follows - I absorb all this feedback, and then I hide somewhere with a huge marker board or a large pile of paper, and in the literal sense I try to make a map of everything I heard from people. And from this process there arises an improved idea and a thirst for human communication with repeated immersion in the whirlpool of feedback. ”

Chris Crawford

Place: Oregon, USA
Games: Balance of Power, Storytron


“I work at home alone and with music turned on. My office is a computer, but an important part of my working style is working on 40 acres of the purchased forest. Physical labor purifies my mind. In fact, I can even postpone the reply to a letter in order to go outside and look for weeds on my part of the earth, including potentilla and sunflower. ”

“When I work, I turn on the music: Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, Telemann, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, rock of the 60s, Scott Joplin, Philip Glass, Wakti, Strauss ... I break my work into intermittent tasks. I’m writing code for just a few hours; at other times I write the plot, repair the fence, cut down dead wood on my land, drag it into the stacks with a tractor and cut it for firewood. ”

“I am building a 1.2 meter long“ Panther ”tank, which I will program to patrol a house at night and accidentally turn on twinkling lights to scare off pests. I called it "Revenge of the Buckwheat" in honor of my cat, which the coyotes dragged off.

“I work in my cave. If I travel, and this rarely happens, I don’t try to work, except for small tasks, such as answering emails. ”

Dylan Cuthbert

Place: Kyoto, Japan
Games: Starfox Command, PixelJunk Series, The Tomorrow Children


“Q-Games is now in Kyoto, Japan, in a great new office that we designed ourselves. This is an old building, so we were allowed to do anything on our territory. ”

“The work space has a huge impact on my creativity and productivity, and that is why we designed the new studio as a rather large“ social space ”or as we call it“ cafe space ”in which we can relax and hang out. All tables were designed individually and connected in groups of three. In the studio there is no direct lighting, all the light is reflected from the ceiling. We also designed tables so that there was always a good flow of air beneath them, because there is hot equipment, such as a PC, and this allows us to maintain a good average office temperature, as well as an excellent level of CO2. High CO2 concentrations can be a problem in the workplace and affect the energy level of employees. We also have common standing tables that people can use at any time. ”

“I love being in a room full of creative people, so I prefer to work in a very convenient office space. But I absolutely do not like cubicles, I like open, wide spaces. I do not want me to have to go to the toilet or for coffee the same way every time, and the new office scheme helped a lot. I like it when it's not very noisy, but I like a little background music, it gives a feeling of working process. ”

Meg Jayanth

Location: London, England
Games: Samsara; 80 days


“I work from home, so the concepts of“ work ”and“ rest ”are blurred. If I didn’t have a good day or several days of work, then stress and tension fill the whole house, and it becomes harder to relax, which in turn prevents awakening the next morning and high productivity. But there is a good side - I am not tied to work nine hours five days a week and this gives me more flexibility. I like to manage my time myself. ”

“You might think that I really only need an Internet connection and a laptop, but alas, it is not. I like to walk, go to the balcony, make the most a couple of cups of coffee. I can do background and research work in coffee shops or libraries, but in order to sit down and get down to the plot, it is very important for me to be in my own space. ”

“I hate to write the clerk (if it’s not research or editing) surrounded by many people, I’m getting shy and the proposals are hard-won. I like when the TV is turned on with something unobtrusive, with several tabs with news and articles that can be viewed. This is a rather diffuse, strange process, but in fact controlled distractions allow me to focus more actively. ”

Sam Barlow (Sam Barlow)

Place: New York, USA
Games: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories; Her Story; War games


“I have a rather contradictory attitude towards workspaces. The most important part of my work is done in the subconscious (which is much, much smarter than me) and the time when I sit at the computer and drive something in, usually turns out to be routine work. It is important for me to be able to walk or do something pleasant in order to take a break, then I can go back to work and concentrate. A good coffee shop nearby is a good excuse to stroll, and New York is generous with such gifts! Having a number of good people with whom you can exchange ideas and a rubber duck (I know, this is usually considered a bad decision, but for me it is an important step!) Are also necessary. In addition, it is very important for me to surround myself with the best people, both physically and via Skype. ”

“I can work and work everywhere — the Internet, headphones, and a MacBook are enough for me, provided I am weatherproof. And Kindle for research - electronic ink in this case is best. One exception is when I have a script that needs to be edited. I have to go somewhere where there is a table large enough to print and decompose it — it’s best to edit the script when I can physically take the pages and see them all at the same time. Sometimes I work with sticky papers on the wall and / or write something in a notebook. ”

“Since childhood, when I was doing my homework in parallel with watching TV, I realized that I like a lot of environmental noise, but I think that the best working conditions for me are 6 am in a quiet room. But this happens infrequently - perhaps it is possible to achieve this once a year. Most of the projects I work on have a “Music for Project” playlist, and switching to it instantly makes me focus. ”

Ricky Haggett

Location: London, England
Games: Tenya Wanya Teens; Hohokum


“We work in a place called Busworks , right north of Kings Cross. This is one of the converted former warehouses, which are so many in north London. In this, at the end of the 19th century, old omnibuses on horseback were created and repaired. ”

“If I have enough natural light and space on the table to sit up straight and comfortably position my hands, then the rest doesn’t bother me much. In fact, I work quite normally in coffee shops when people look at me, but I don’t really like coffee, only tea. ”

“For me, the computer itself is much more important - not the keyboard itself or the screen, but aspects like the directory structure and the naming method, so that I can always find the necessary things. This is much more important for my productivity than the physical environment. ”

“Usually we listen to music almost all day, so we prefer compositions that are not too intrusive and create a certain flow. I like when someone brings me tea, it is quite important. And sometimes my colleague Pat Ash brings me some nuts in a bowl when I'm hungry. ”

PORPENTINE

Location: Auckland, USA
Games: Howling Dogs, Neon Haze


“Very often I had to work, sitting on the floor and surrounded by cockroaches, when my computer squeaked and was sometimes chopped off, the monitor was on a cardboard box, so now I need a good space. I think my ideal would be a semi-aquatic environment, so that I would be like an amphibian, sitting in warm water and completely pulled into rubber, working at a waterproof computer. Or on the serene VR lawn. ”

“Now I work at the table next to the window of my apartment, looking at the palm trees and the pool in the backyard. During the day, I can work on three or four projects, quickly switching between environments, so my desk is swamped with cables and all kinds of hardware — a Wacom tablet, a Snowball microphone, markers, notebooks. Switching between paper and computer is a good way to change perspective. — , Pico. , ».

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“Pursuing the game design of the cities of Final Fantasy XV , I wanted to create fictional cities that were down to earth and at the same time motivating research players. For this, I needed to have instant access to materials on world cultures, including books on urban planning, as well as manga, dedicated to travel and cuisine. Even with access to the Internet, I definitely strive to have on hand paper copies. They not only help me to find inspiration instantly, but also push me to exchange knowledge within the team. My colleagues and I acquired the habit of constantly borrowing books and manga from each other, and this can be arranged only if there is a table that is accessible to everyone. ”

“The table is the best for me. Our director Tabata-san insists on grouping according to aspects of the game, not working skills, so I sit very close to artists and programmers who also work on cities. Because of this, we can easily arrange short "brainstorming." We can easily contact each other if any of us have feedback or complaints. In addition to this, we are also allowed to transmit ideas to printed materials, such as books and diagrams. In addition, I often have to play and thoroughly test the game, especially in the later stages of development. For reasons of secrecy, I can never do this in a coffee shop. ”

“I’m used to people making noise near my workplace. When it comes to game design, communication is very important, so I like to be as close as possible to my colleagues for discussion and decision making. The realization of this made the noise in my environment desirable. Surprisingly, I can work without music in my ears, but in moments when I really want to sleep, I usually run YouTube documentaries in the background. And lastly, regardless of the season, I need air circulation. That's what I use the table fan for. ”